AUTHOR=Capone Fioravante , Pellegrino Giovanni , Motolese Francesco , Rossi Mariagrazia , Musumeci Gabriella , Di Lazzaro Vincenzo 

TITLE=Extremely Low Frequency Magnetic Fields Do Not Affect LTP-Like Plasticity in Healthy Humans

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

VOLUME=14

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/human-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2020.00014

DOI=10.3389/fnhum.2020.00014

ISSN=1662-5161

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Introduction</title><p>Several studies explored the biological effects of extremely low-frequency magnetic fields (ELF-MFs) <italic>in vitro</italic>, reporting the induction of functional changes in neuronal activity. In particular, ELF-MFs can influence synaptic plasticity both <italic>in vitro</italic> and in animal models but some studies reported an increase in long-term potentiation (LTP) whereas others suggested its reduction. However, no specific study has investigated such effect on humans.</p></sec><sec><title>Aims</title><p>To evaluate whether ELF-MFs affect the propensity of the human cortex to undergo LTP-like plasticity.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>We designed a randomized, single-blind, sham-controlled, cross-over study on 10 healthy subjects. Cortical plasticity was induced by intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) before and after 45-min ELF-MFs (75 Hz; 1.8 mT) or sham exposure and was estimated by measuring the changes of motor evoked potentials (MEP) amplitude before and after each iTBS.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>No adverse events were reported. No significant effects of ELF-MFs on cortical plasticity were found.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusion</title><p>Whole-brain exposure to ELF-MFs (75 Hz; 1.8 mT) is safe and does not seem to significantly affect LTP-like plasticity in human motor cortex.</p></sec>